


Lanterns and Family

by sunkissedjoon94



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Fluff, Getting Back Together, Light Angst, M/M, Parent Trap AU, Post-Divorce, a lantern festival is very inaccurately described, mentioned Soongyu, mentioned wonchan, my writing braincell could not be tamed, parents junhao, this was supposed to just be a blurb, told a lot through the kids' eyes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-26
Updated: 2020-11-26
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:21:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27720637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunkissedjoon94/pseuds/sunkissedjoon94
Summary: Junhui and Minghao are divorced and have been separated for a few years. They both have one of their two children. Until their children meet and find out that they have more family than they realized. Samuel and Jeongin realize just how much they want to have a family, and so with their cousin's help, they figure out a way to get their dads to meet at the festival they are at.This was just supposed to be a blurb. A request I got back in Aug that my writing brain cell ran away with. So uhhhh yep!The request:junhao had twins but they got divorced soon after and took one child each,, the kids grow up and neither hao nor jun have seen anyone else (they still love each other nudge nudge) the kids meet and make a plan to get their parents back together?? basically parent trap!au is what i'm saying here
Relationships: Wen Jun Hui | Jun/Xu Ming Hao | The8
Comments: 1
Kudos: 39





	Lanterns and Family

Samuel sat his stuff onto the bed as Junhui followed him into the room. They were on vacation with his uncles Mingyu and Soonyoung and his cousin Soobin, who were probably getting settled into their own room. “Can I go with Soobin to go check things out?”

“What, you don’t want to hang out with me?” Junhui looked at the young teen and smiled, “yeah go ahead. Don’t leave the hotel though okay? And be back in an hour, we wanted to bring you two to the festival.”

“I won’t do anything I shouldn’t,” Samuel promised with a smile. He held his pinky up to Junhui.

Junhui smiled and linked his pinky with him, “good. Be safe.”

“I will dad. Don’t worry.” Samuel smiled. He grabbed his camera and phone and started heading to the door.

“Hey, take this too.” Junhui handed him a room key, “don’t lose it.”

“I won’t.” Samuel smiled before going to his cousin and uncles’ room, telling Soobin the plan before Soobin got the same permission and they took off, ready to explore the hotel.

\--------

“I’m gonna go look around,” Jeongin said as he set his bag in the room. “Is that okay?”

“Yeah, be careful okay?” Minghao checked with the young teenager.

“I will. I’m gonna check if Kai wants to come too.” Jeongin smiled.

“Sounds good. Don’t be gone too long okay? I think after we settle in we’ll head out to the festival.”

“I won’t be, promise Dad.” Jeongin smiled. He hugged Minghao, “thank you for planning this vacation for us.”

Minghao smiled hugging his son, giving him a quick kiss on the head, “of course Jeongin, go have some fun with Kai.”

“Sweet,” Jeongin smiled and grabbed his phone and a room key before leaving, going to his uncle’s room where Hueningkai was promising he’d be careful as he slowly backed out of the room.

“Jeongin, is Kai going with you?” Wonwoo asked, seeing the teen as he came up.

“Yeah! We’re gonna check everything out, like the best vending machine for snacks.” Jeongin grinned.

Wonwoo laughed, “be safe.”

“We will Dad! Promise!” Hueningkai promised.

“Go be teens. We’ll head out for the festival in a while okay?” Chan smiled at the teens who both nodded, giving him a mock salute before running off down the highway, already shouting about racing each other up and down the different staircases.

\--------

“It’s lame they always lock the roof access doors.” Soobin sighed as he and Samuel walked back down the stairs to the first floor. As they did any time they stayed in a hotel, the two had gone up the stairs to check if the roof access door was locked, Samuel wanting to take a few pictures there. They had only been lucky a few of the times they had checked for the door to be unlocked, but they weren’t giving up any time soon to have more success.

“Yeah, it’d be nice if they did keep them unlocked. We didn’t do anything wrong when we were on the other roofs.” Samuel shrugged as they turned a corner to go down the next set of stairs. A boy about his height quickly pushed past him.

“Sorry!” The boy tossed over his shoulder as he kept going up the stairs.

“Where’s the fire?” Soobin laughed.

Samuel watched the boy, a quick flash of recognition hitting him. As quickly as it had been there though, it ran away, leaving him confused and having an ache of missing someone sitting heavy in his chest. Which never made sense. He didn’t know the kid who had run past. 

“Racing my cousin, sorry again!” The boy yelled before he was out of sight.

Soobin laughed, shaking his head, “too much energy is needed for that.”

Samuel nodded, distracted in his thoughts slightly. Why did he feel a longing for a kid with who he had only brushed shoulders? He shook his head and followed Soobin, the two going to look around the lobby and the first floor for what else they could take pictures by.

\--------

Jeongin felt even more winded than usual when he reached the top of the stairs. The feeling sat heavy in his chest as he felt a pull to go back down the stairs and find the kid he had run by. Instead, as if on autopilot, he let his feet carry him to the elevator where his slow down probably meant Hueningkai had beat him and was waiting. He couldn’t find himself to care though, even as the younger cheered and playfully hit his shoulder. 

“Told you I could win Hyung!” Hueningkai cheered.

Jeongin gave him a small smile and nodded, “yeah. You did Kai.” 

“What’s wrong? You look like you saw a ghost.” Hueningkai caught on that something had happened in the second staircase.

“I’m fine. Yeah. I’m good. Race you back down?” Jeongin grinned, shaking off the feeling.

“You’re on.” Hueningkai smiled, “one-two-” 

Before he said three, the younger had already taken off, taking a small headstart, leaving Jeongin to quickly stumble to catch up. As he got to the bottom floor, the elevator was in sight and he was so  _ sure  _ that he’d win the race against Hueningkai until he saw the same boy, a camera to his face as the one he had been with was posing, looking out a nearby window. The sight made him stumble, almost falling over, saved by a hand on his arm. 

“What are you doing running in my hotel?” The voice asked and Jeongin froze. He saw Hueningkai coming down the hall, quickly trying to stop so he didn’t get caught either, but the hotel manager saw and motioned for him to come close. Once both boys were in front of him he looked at them, “now why is it you two are running in my hotel?”

Jeongin saw Hueningkai stumble for words, unsure what to say. Quickly he started speaking in Chinese, thanking his dad for teaching him so that he could get himself out of the situation. He could tell out of the corner of his eye, the boy with the camera had lowered it, looking over at him surprised. It made Jeongin continue to just ramble in Chinese, hoping that the hotel manager would let them go so he could go hide in their rooms until they went to the festival, without his dad knowing. “ _ I was going to go get some fish from the market, they have really good fish there you know, and did you know the sky is blue and grass is green and that cows do not dream standing up- _ ”

“I know you understand me and can speak Korean. I heard you talking when you and your father checked in.” The hotel manager sighed. “Don’t do it again. Got it?”

Jeongin, quickly stopping his words nodded, Hueningkai next to him just nodding, too afraid that his dads would be told if he didn’t.

“Go on,” the hotel manager sighed, “and behave yourselves.”

“Yes sir.” Hueningkai bowed, pulling Jeongin into a bow with him. They waited until the manager walked away before Hueningkai looked at him, “we almost got in serious trouble.”

“Well yeah, but at least  _ I  _ tried to get us out of trouble.” Jeongin said, glancing over Heuingkai’s shoulder at the boy before looking back at him, “considering you just stood there.”

“Bro, if my dads found out I’d be grounded. For life! Do you know how long that is?” Hueningkai said.

“Yeah, as if my dad wouldn’t have me doing chores for eternity,” Jeongin rolled his eyes. He paused when he noticed the other boy was now walking towards them. He froze again as his eyes met the other boys. He felt like he knew him. He had to, but where?

“Hi, sorry to interrupt. Did I hear right, you spoke Chinese?” The boy asked. The other stood behind him just a bit, watching curiously.

Jeongin nodded, “yeah. My dad is Chinese and taught me.”

“Wow. Sorry, that’s just cool, my dad is the same and taught me Chinese too.” The boy smiled, “I’m Samuel. This is my cousin Soobin.”

The boy behind him smiled and waved at the other two.

Jeongin smiled at him and nodded, “I’m Jeongin, this is my cousin Kai. Are you here for the festival too?”

“Yeah, my dad said it was a big deal and wanted me to come. Usually, we’ve been busy and haven’t been able to. This year my dad made sure to make time so we can come,” Samuel nodded, “you guys?”

“Jeongin’s dad has always wanted to come too.” Hueningkai said, “my dads decided we’ll come along this year too.”

“That’s how mine is. They’re both Korean but figured the festival will be fun.” Soobin smiled at Hueningkai.

“Crazy how similar we are,” Jeongin said quietly. “No second parent?”

“No. My dad got divorced from my other dad when I was a baby.” Samuel shrugged.

“Mine too.” Jeongin’s eyes widened. He looked at Hueningkai who slowly realized the same thing.

“Wait, what if-” “Could it be possible-” 

“Do you know anything about your other dad?” Jeongin asked.

Samuel shook his head, “nothing.” He paused, “well I have a picture.” He handed Soobin his camera and got his phone, taking the case off and handing Jeongin the small picture that sat there.

Jeongin and Hueningkai both looked and their eyes widened seeing Minghao’s face looking back at them. “Holy shit.”

“What?” Samuel asked.

“This is my dad.” Jeongin looked up at him. He handed the picture back to Samuel before getting his phone. He scrolled through the pictures and showed Samuel a picture of him and Minghao that he had taken. “See.”

“How-” Samuel asked surprised. “Do you have a picture of your other dad?” Already he was scrolling through his phone for a picture of Junhui.

At the same time, they showed each other their picture, surprised. 

“That’s my dad!” “That’s the guy my dad said is my other dad!”

“Woah,” Soobin whispered watching.

“This is freaky.” Hueningkai agreed.

“Does this mean we’re brothers?” Samuel asked quickly.

“Probably, when’s your birthday?” Jeongin asked.

“February 8. You?” Samuel asked.

“February 8.” Jeongin blinked. 

“Holy shit,” Samuel whispered. “Dad never said anything about a twin. Just that things didn’t work out between him and my other dad so they split up.”

“Wait, what if they still love each other? Has your dad dated anyone? Mine hasn’t.” Jeongin asked.

“Mine neither.” Samuel shook his head. His eyes widened, “we could try getting them to meet! If anything they gotta let us see each other more right? And meet our other dad? We can be a family!”

“Yeah! How long are you guys here for?” Jeongin grinned.

"End of the festival. You?” Samuel smiled.

“Same!” Jeongin smiled, “okay come on. We need to plan.” He grabbed Hueningkai’s hand and dragged him behind him, Samuel following with Soobin to the empty computer room, the four teens sitting on the ground and starting to plan.

\--------

“Samuel, why does it even matter what I wear?” Junhui asked as the teen double-checked his outfit that he had been made to change into.

“Because Dad, you gotta look good,” Samuel said, not providing any reason. 

Junhui laughed and shook his head, “alright. Fine. I’ll play along. Are we ready then?”

Samuel glanced at his phone, seeing he had a text from Jeongin saying they were leaving, and nodded, “yeah let’s go.”

“Alright well, let's grab your uncles and Soobin and head out.” Junhui grabbed his jacket, “grab your jacket.”

Samuel did as he was told and grabbed his jacket, and camera before following his dad out. They went and got Soonyoung, Mingyu, and Soobin before heading to the elevator together. Soobin gave Samuel a small thumbs-up, helping encourage the other who was nervous about what was to come.

\--------

Jeongin walked ahead of Minghao, Wonwoo, and Chan, Hueningkai by his side. They both were looking for the spot that they had designated as the meeting place. Originally it had seemed okay when they were planning it out looking a the maps on their phones, but now there were tons of people, and Jeongin was nervous it would mess with their plan. 

“Don’t worry Hyung. We’ll get your dads to meet.” Hueningkai whispered.

“God I hope so.” Jeongin whispered, “I hope my other dad likes me too.”

“He will. I know it.” Hueningkai reassured. He saw blue hair moving through the crowd and tapped Jeongin’s arm, “there’s Soobin.”

Jeongin smiled seeing Soobin and next to him, Samuel who looked as nervous as he felt. They gave each other secretive thumbs up to help encourage each other. Jeongin looked back at Minghao, “dad I found something over here I want to check out. Come on!”

“I’m coming Jeongin.” Minghao smiled. He looked at Wonwoo and Chan, talking to the couple as they followed the teens, which Jeongin was grateful for. He was worried his dad would turn around and walk away the second he saw his other dad. 

The closer they got, the more nervous Jeongin got. Silently, he whispered a countdown in his head, nerves building up even more. “Please let him like me.”

Hueningkai gave him a comforting smile just before they both heard behind and in front of them:

“Minghao?” “Junhui?”

“Oh shit.”

\--------

“What are you doing here?” Junhui asked, surprised. He stared at his ex, standing across from him. Beside his ex were two friends he hadn’t seen in a long time, who both looked just as surprised as Minghao and he felt. 

“I wanted to bring Jeongin to the festival. He said he saw something over here.” Minghao managed to say, “you?”

“Same with Samuel. Down to wanting to check something out over here.” Junhui whispered. He stared at Minghao for a moment before they looked at their teens who were now standing by each other, holding each other’s hand as if they were worried their dads would separate them again.

“Boys?” Minghao raised an eyebrow. He saw Jeongin react, and he guessed Jeongin must’ve told Samuel about him because Samuel even managed to at least act like he was guilty.

“We’re staying at the same hotel. I heard Jeongin speak in Chinese and I talked to him and we showed each other our pictures and found out we’re brothers. We wanted you to meet, and to meet our other dad.”

“Really?” Junhui let out a sigh and looked at Mingyu and Soonyoung who looked surprised.

“We can go walk around with Soobin,” Mingyu offered. “Give you guys a minute.”

Junhui nodded and sighed. “Yeah, I’ll come to find you later.”

“We’ll come with. Kai, come on.” Wonwoo said gently.

Hueningkai and Soobin gave their cousins a quick hug before following their parents, leaving Junhui, Minghao, and the two teens standing alone.

“This was bound to happen,” Minghao sighed. He took a deep breath before going to the boys. “Hi Samuel.”

“Hi, Dad,” Samuel whispered, looking up at him. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. Neither of you did anything wrong.” Minghao assured, glancing at Jeongin before pulling Samuel into a hug. “I’m glad I finally get to do this.”

“I missed you,” Samuel whispered, hugging Minghao.

Junhui smiled and went to Jeongin, “hi Jeonginnie.”

“Dad,” Jeongin said quietly before hugging Junhui, “why did you do it this way?”

“Well, your dad and I started arguing a lot, and we figured it was better to just divorce,” Minghao explained. He still held Samuel in a hug, the teen not wanting to let go.

“Why not just let us go back and forth together?” Samuel asked.

“We weren’t thinking much on that part.” Junhui admitted, “we wanted to have you both in mind when we made our decision. I guess we both failed at that.”

“And a lot of other things.” Minghao sighed softly. 

“Do we have to go back to pretending each other doesn’t exist?” Jeongin asked.

“No. There’s a lot of discussions to be had. But, I think your dad and I agree that now you two know each other and have met, there’s no way we can keep you apart.” Minghao answered quickly.

Junhui nodded, “absolutely.” 

Jeongin and Samuel peeked at each other while they still hugged their dads, reaching over and taking each other’s hand. 

\--------

The rest of the time they were there, the boys got to know each other and the opposite dad better, meeting their uncles from either side and finding out that their little family was just a bit bigger than they realized. Junhui and Minghao both kept stepping away to talk about things, figuring out what was next, while both teens silently wished their dads saw they still loved each other. 

The last night they were there, Junhui sat next to Samuel after they finished getting ready to go out to the festival to light off lanterns, “your dad and I have been talking.”

Samuel nodded, fidgeting with his camera as he listened. “Yeah, Jeongin and I noticed.”

“I know you both have also been hoping we’ll end up together again.” Junhui smiled. “And while I can’t say that will happen, especially because we have a lot to talk about still, we have figured out how to keep you two together and see us. Turns out, we all live in Seoul. Whatever it is that brought you two together here, must’ve been working to keep us apart until the time was right.”

Samuel laughed a little, “Seoul is kind of big though dad.”

“I know, but the chances of you two never meeting when we live just a few neighborhoods away are insane, and exactly what happened. So when we go back home, it’ll be different, and your dad and I will still need to talk a lot about us. But I think if you boys are okay with it, we can be a family again.”

“Of course we are. I know Jeongin will. We both wanted this,” Samuel said quickly.

Junhui laughed and kissed his head, “good. Do you have anything to ask me?”

“Yeah, actually one thing.” Samuel mumbled, “do you still love dad?”

Junhui bit his lip thinking about it before answering, “yeah. I do. I think I’ve never stopped loving him in the first place. It just-it wasn’t the right time.”

Samuel nodded and hugged his dad, “I bet he still loves you.”

“Hopefully.” Junhui smiled hugging him. “Come on. They’ll probably be done having this same conversation.”

“Dad,” Samuel said after Junhui got up. He waited until Junhui looked at him, “thank you for not being mad at Jeongin and I.”

“I wouldn’t be mad at you for this. I’d be mad if you didn’t take advantage of the opportunity.” Junhui reassured gently. He smiled, “come on.”

Samuel smiled and followed Junhui, the two walking out to the elevator and going down to the bottom floor, where Minghao stood, holding a flower with Jeongin waiting next to him.

Minghao smiled and walked over as he saw Samuel and Junhui, “ready?”

Junhui nodded, “I think we are.”

“Uh, this is for you.” Minghao offered the flower, which made Jeongin and Samuel glance at each other, grins on their faces.

“Oh. Thank you,” Junhui took it, surprised, but a smile on his face.

“I uh just figured-yeah.” Minghao rubbed the back of his head shyly and smiled, “should we head out?”

“Let’s. Is everyone else coming?”

“They all went ahead,” Jeongin grinned, “said they’ll meet us there.”

“I’m sure they will,” Minghao mumbled teasingly.

The two teens laughed as they left with their dads, feeling every bit of the family they wanted.

\--------

“How many lanterns?” They were asked when they got up to the booth to buy their lanterns.

“Two,” Junhui smiled. He glanced at Minghao after paying, “one for the boys and one for us.”

Minghao smiled at him and nodded. He glanced at the teens who both were just content with whatever their parents did.

Once they paid and got the lanterns, they walked over to where the launch site was. There, they saw their friends standing close by each other with their own lanterns.

“There you are,” Wonwoo smiled, “we almost figured we’d have to send these off without you.”

“Nah, no way is that happening.” Minghao smiled at his friend.

“Soobin, come hold the lantern with us,” Mingyu called his son over.

Soobin grinned and went over, holding the lantern with Soonyoung while Mingyu helped get it lit.

Samuel lifted his camera to his face, taking pictures of them and then a picture of the three before they let it go, Mingyu and Soonyoung sharing a kiss while Soobin’s eyes followed the lantern, a smile on his face.

“Alright, Kai, want to help me light it?” Wonwoo asked as Chan got the lantern ready.

“What?! No fair.” Soobin whined looking at Mingyu and Soonyoung who both laughed.

Minghao and Junhui smiled watching, both of them unconsciously leaning on each other as they watched with the others.

With Wonwoo’s help, Hueningkai lit their lantern, Samuel taking pictures of them too as they let it go into the air. Wonwoo and Chan both shared a kiss, just like Mingyu and Soonyoung had done, but Hueningkai made a face for the picture Samuel took that created more laughter.

“Our turn,” Junhui smiled, “ready boys? Let’s light yours first.”

Samuel nodded, handing Mingyu his camera to take pictures. He helped Jeongin hold the lantern while Junhui and Minghao helped light it before Minghao and Junhui lit their own, standing next to them. 

“Ready?” Junhui smiled glancing at the boys after Mingyu got the picture. When they nodded, he looked at Minghao who smiled at him and nodded. “On three. One, two, three.”

The lanterns went into the air, and in the picture Mingyu got, Minghao and Junhui were kissing, Samuel and Jeongin both looking over at them and smiling. 

That picture, as well as many others, ended up on the wall of their new home, celebrating their family.


End file.
